Conventionally, a covered electric wire, which has a wire conductor made of a metal material such an annealed tough pitch copper and an insulation that covers the wire conductor, is in widespread use as an electric wire for wiring in a car such as an automobile. A connection terminal is connected to the wire conductor that is exposed by removal of the insulation, at an end of the covered electric wire. The connection terminal, electrically connected to the end of the covered electric wire, is inserted into a connector and locked therein.
A plurality of the covered electric wires with the connection terminals is bunched into a wiring harness. The covered electric wires in the form of a wiring harness are used for wiring in a car such as an automobile. Used for wiring in an engine room or a certain indoor environment, the wiring harness is susceptible to heat and water, which results in formation of rust at electrically connected portions where the wire conductors and the connection terminals are in contact with each other. For this reason, it is necessary to prevent corrosion at the electrically connected portions when the wiring harness is used in such an environment.
In order to prevent corrosion at the electrically connected portions, PTL 1, for example, discloses charging grease in the connectors in which the connection terminals connected to the wire conductors are inserted and locked.
These days, there are increasing efforts to improve fuel efficiency by weight reduction of a car such as an automobile, and accordingly weight reduction of materials for the electric wires that make up the wiring harness is demanded. For this reason, using aluminum for the wire conductors is considered. Copper or a copper alloy, which has excellent electric properties, is generally used for the connection terminals, and accordingly the aluminum electric wires and the copper terminals are often used in combination. When the wire conductors are different in material from the connection terminals, bimetallic corrosion occurs at the electrically connected portions between them. This kind of corrosion occurs more easily compared with the case of using a same material for the wire conductors and the connection terminals. For this reason, an anticorrosive is required which can prevent corrosion at the electrically connected portions in a reliable way.
The conventional grease can not sufficiently prevent entrance of water and resulting corrosion if the connectors are not filled densely with the grease. If the amount of the grease is increased in order to enhance the anticorrosion effect, the grease may unintentionally coat a portion where prevention of corrosion is not needed. In addition, an excessive amount of the grease makes the connectors and the electric wires sticky, which decreases handleability thereof.
Thus, an anticorrosive that highly prevents the corrosion, as a replacement for the grease, and a terminal-attached covered electric wire using the anticorrosive have been proposed (see PTL2, for example). The anticorrosive and the wire disclosed in PTL2 overcome the above-described disadvantages of use of the grease.